Yu Tsukada | Alex Boya's 'Bread Will Walk'
Alex Boya's 'Bread Will Walk' uses surrealism and black humor to depict a societal crisis where artificial bread turns people into bread zombies.Summary
Alex Boya's animated film 'Bread Will Walk' (2025), produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), portrays a critical societal collapse caused by artificial bread developed to solve food shortages; those who consume it turn into bread zombies, leading others to cannibalize them. This work extends Boya's exploration of absurd transformations, seen previously in 'Turbine,' but gains stronger persuasive power through its clear social commentary, establishing him as a leading figure in contemporary animation's absurd transformation narratives. The film, which took over four years to produce, features striking visuals, including a metamorphosis that mimics the self-propagation of yeast, and grotesque character transformations rendered through various techniques like photomontage to depict bread texture. The main story follows a sister trying to protect her brother, who has become a bread zombie, with continuous tension maintained through animation that avoids cutting during changes in movement and space, comparable in intensity to the spatial drama in Georges Schwizgebel's work. The narrative culminates with the siblings facing a difficult decision in a windmill, testing familial intimacy amidst societal self-destruction, underscored by a romantic rendition of the jazz standard 'All of Me' at the end.
(Source：artscape)